Don't Leave
by SODAllyGirl14
Summary: A one shot about Twobit and his father leaving


**Author's Note: Alright I decided to try a one shot. It's inspired by the song "Family Portrait" by Pink and is about when Two-bit's father left. Two-bit is 10 and his sister is 6. **

_Momma please stop cryin, I can't stand the sound  
Your pain is painful and its tearin' me down  
I hear glasses breakin as I sit up in my bed  
I told god you didn't mean those nasty things you said_

He sat up in his room listening to the shouting and fighting downstairs between his parents. His mother was crying hysterically and his father shouting louder than ever. Frankly this scared him. He didn't want his family to be broken apart. He loved his mother and his father even his little 6 year old sister Katie. He just sat up in his room trying to ignore the screaming and breaking of glass down stairs. His mother was saying nasty and mean things about his father that shocked young Keith.

'She didn't mean it' He would tell himself at night and when he prayed that his parents would work things out and everything would go back to normal. But everyday the fighting just go worse and the day ended in his mother a sobbing mess and his father storming off only to come back hours later hammered drunk or the next day. It was tearing Keith apart and scaring Katie. 

You fight about money, bout me and my brother  
And this I come home to, this is my shelter  
It ain't easy growin up in world war III  
Never knowin what love could be, you'll see  
I don't want love to destroy me like it has done  
My family

"Well what about Keith and Katie? Huh?" his mother screamed and then they heard a glass break. Keith got up from his bed and quietly walked into Katie's room. Katie is only 6 and doesn't really understand what's going on but knows it isn't good. She was sitting on her bed holding one of her stuffed animals close to her. Keith opened the door and closed it behind him. He walked over to his baby sister and sat down next to her on her bed. They heard another glass breaking.

"What's going on?" she asked gently gripping her stuffed Mickey Mouse closer to her. Keith wrapped his arms around his little sister "Two-bit what's going on?" she asked again

"Don't worry about it everything's gonna be ok" He reassured his little sister even though he wasn't so sure himself that everything would be ok. Keith was scared that his father would leave or his mother and he liked having everyone together. His father would go out in the back yard and play foot ball with him or they would watch Mickey Mouse together. He would take them to the candy store and they would each get a bag of candy. Their mother would let them help cook dinner and let their friends come over. Most of the time Keith went over to Sodapop, Ponyboy, and Darry's house but sometimes they would come over or Steve or Johnny or even Dallas, but lately with his parents fighting he would just go over one of their houses or they would go to the vacant lot that was down the street.

Can we work it out? can we be a family?  
I promise I'll be better, mommy I'll do anything  
Can we work it out? Can we be a family?  
I promise I'll be better, daddy please don't leave

The yelling got louder and louder not just from his father but from his mother too. Normally his mother didn't yell she would say some pretty nasty things but never yell. Or at least not like this. They were yelling so loud that the neighbors could hear. Two-bit hoped for his sake and his sisters that his parents would stop fighting. Katie was scared to death and there was nothing he could do about it.

'They'll work things out they have to' Keith thought to himself 'Dad won't leave us he just can't.' Katie and Keith could hear the yelling clear as day. They were fighting over money then them and jobs and each other. 

Daddy please stop yellin, I can't stand the sound  
Make mama stop cryin, cuz I need you around  
My mama she loves you, no matter what she says  
Its true  
I know that she hurts you, but remember I love  
You, too

Keith couldn't stand to hear his father yell anymore and knew he couldn't subject his sister to this. He had to do something to stop it or at least get their minds off of the fighting. He couldn't go down there and tell them to stop even if he did they wouldn't listen. He looked around Katie's room trying to think of something.

"Two-bit where are you going?" Katie asked horrified as her big brother got up and walked over to the door.

"Come on" he said. There was nothing he could do but his room was farther away from where his parents were fighting and at least the yelling would be quieter. He grabbed his little sisters arm and dragged her off of the bed and over to the door. When he opened it they yelling was like a sonic boom. It was even louder out in the hall than it was in Katie's room. They quickly made their way into Two-bit's room and closed the door. It wasn't much quieter that Katie's room but compared to out in the hall it wasn't loud at all. They both got up on his bed and sat there. Katie was still holding the Mickey Mouse doll that used to be his. How she got it was still a mystery. Keith loves Mickey Mouse even to this day. Katie must have taken it from his room. Any other day he would have been furious that she took his Mickey Mouse or even came into his room, but not today, not now. Besides Keith had more and Katie needed it now more than he did. Keith looked out his window trying to block the screams out. The sky was dark and the stars showing. He knew it was late and they were probably suppose to be in bed. Katie was yawning and rubbing her eyes.

"You wanna go to bed?" he asked his little sister. And she shook her head violently "Why not" he said. His voice was quiet and soft. Like if he talked any louder his parents would hear and be mad at him.

"I don't wanna go back in there alone, and mommy and daddy are yelling" she said her voice barely above a whisper.

"Here" Keith said and pulled down the blanket off his bed. "Lay down" She did as Two-bit said. He started fiddling with the record player that was on his dresser and finally got it to work. He put on his Elvis record just loud enough to mask the shouts.

"Will you lay with me?" She asked and Two-bit climbed in his bed and laid next to his little sister. She held the stuffed mouse to her as she fell asleep and was out in five minutes._  
_

_I ran away today, ran from the noise, ran away  
Don't wanna go back to that place, but don't have  
No choice, no way  
It ain't easy growin up in world war iii  
Never knowin what love could be, well I've seen  
I don't want love to destroy me like it did my  
Family_

_Can we work it out? Can we be a family?  
I promise I'll be better, mommy I'll do anything  
Can we work it out? Can we be a family?  
I promise I'll be better, daddy please don't  
Leave_

Keith laid there with his sleeping sister and thought about his day. He had run out of the house this morning and didn't come back until about 9 and his parents didn't even notice they were still fighting. They didn't care that he ran out and even notice. He couldn't stand his parents screaming and fighting anymore and ran out. He went to the lot first for a while and ended up going to the Curtis house hold. He didn't know what he would do if his family wasn't a family anymore. It would be weird not having his father or his mother around any more. It would even be weird with out all the screaming all the time.

Earlier he wondered if him being gone would make his parents stop fighting and they would come together and find him but the didn't they just kept on fighting. He cleaned his room in hopes that his parents would stop fighting. He was nice to Katie again hoping that they would stop fighting. He tried everything, promising to do this and not do that hoping that if they would stop but he would do whatever he said he would or wouldn't and still the fighting persisted.

In our family portrait, we look pretty happy  
Let's play pretend, let's act like it comes  
Naturally  
I don't wanna have to split the holidays  
I don't want two addresses  
I don't want a step-brother anyways  
And I don't want my mom to have to change her  
Last name

Keith's thought then wandered to what would happen if his parents did split. He would have to live with his mom half the time and his dad the other. He would have two rooms, at two different house each with a different parent and two different lives. What if he had to move away? He would never be able to see the gang again or go to school here in Tulsa. What if one of his parents got re married? Would they have kids? Would he get along with them? He stopped himself form think those things. 'They're not going to split up. They are just having a little fight it's normal. Right?' He thought to himself as he laid there staring at the ceiling beside his sister who was peacefully sleeping. She was breathing softly and quietly and even looked peaceful. Keith could still hear his parents fighting over the music that was playing. It was like the fighting was on his record and he could faintly hear the music down stairs. But that wasn't the case. The music was coming from across the room and he couldn't hear it all he could hear was the shouts coming from down the stair.

In our family portrait we look pretty happy  
We look pretty normal, let's go back to that  
In our family portrait we look pretty happy  
Let's play pretend, act like it goes naturally

Keith felt like he was standing in the middle of the living room where his parents were fighting. He could hear everything they were saying right down to his father's slightly southern accent. You could faintly tell when talking to him but if you listened close enough you could hear it. Keith thought of the pictures that are down stairs. They have several photos of all four of them together smiling and laughing and having fun. Just like a normal family.

In our family portrait we look pretty happy  
(can we work it out? can we be a family?)  
We look pretty normal, let's go back to that  
(I promise I'll be better, mommy I'll do  
Anything)  
In our family portrait we look pretty happy  
(can we work it out? can we be a family?)  
Let's play pretend act and like it comes so  
Naturally  
(I promise I'll be better, daddy please don't  
Leave)  
In our family portrait we look pretty happy  
(can we work it out? can we be a family?)  
We look pretty normal, let's go back to that  
(I promise I'll be better, daddy please don't  
Leave)

He wished that they could go back to the days where they would go to the park and play. Dad would push him and Katie on the swings and then Keith and his father would play foot ball and Katie would play Barbies with mom. Or when their parents would take them to the candy store and let them get what ever they wanted.

Keith didn't want his father to leave and from the way they were talking down stairs that is what it sounded like was going to happen. He loved his father even if he did yell a lot and drank too much he still loved him and didn't want him to leave. The last thing that was on his mind was how much he didn't want his father to leave but the last thing he heard was his mother screaming, the door slamming and a car speeding off into the night.

_  
Daddy don't leave  
Daddy don't leave  
Daddy don't leave  
Turn around please  
Remember that the night you left you took my  
Shining star?  
Daddy don't leave  
Daddy don't leave  
Daddy don't leave  
Don't leave us here alone _

Mom will be nicer  
I'll be so much better, I'll tell my brother  
Oh, I won't spill the milk at dinner  
I'll be so much better, I'll do everything right  
I'll be your little girl forever  
I'll go to sleep at night

* * *

**A/N: Ignore the 'I'll be your little girl forever' comment it was just part of the song.**


End file.
